Anas Judges take dismissal to ECOWAS Court

Ghana has been instructed by the African Court on Human and People’s Rights not to take any action against applicants- Justice Paul Uuter Dery, Justice Habib Logoh and Justice Ayisi Addo until it rules on an application before it on May 30.

The judges were indicted over their role in the judicial corruption scandal uncovered by investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas and Tiger Eye PI.

The three filed a fresh suit at the ECOWAS Court on March 29 over their suspension from the Judicial Service pending their likely removal from office as High Court Judges.

A court in Mali heard the case on Wednesday morning.

They were praying the court to restrain the judiciary from “proceeding with the impeachment of the plaintiffs pending the hearing and determination of the suit.”

The judges have previously used legal means in an attempt to clear their names.

Background

The three were part of the 22 lower court judges and 12 High Court judges indicted in the September 2015 judicial corruption exposé.

They were captured on video allegedly receiving bribes from persons seeking justice to perverse judgement on their cases.

Even before the release of the video, Justice Dery filed an unsuccessful suit to prevent the footage from being screened publicly.

Justice Logoh also cited the Chief Justice, Justice Theodora Georgina Wood, for contempt of court.

He questioned why the Chief Justice was going ahead to begin impeachment proceedings against him when he had other suits pending before the court on his interdiction.

Logoh further sued investigative Anas for fraud, questioning the legality of the investigation conducted by Tiger Eye PI.

He argued that Anas could not also conduct private investigations into the Judicial Service without a licence or permit from the Minister of Interior under the Police Service (Private Security Organizations Regulations), 1992 (L.I. 1571).

Twenty out of the 21 lower court judges were indicted in the corruption scandal and subsequently removed from office.

Two High Court judges were later removed from office in April 2016.